View source for Frank Shorter

{{Short description|American long-distance runner (born 1947)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| headercolor    = 
| name           = Frank Shorter
| image          = Frank Shorter at Boston 2002.jpg
| imagesize      = 
| caption        = Shorter in 2002
| fullname       = Frank Charles Shorter
| nationality    = {{USA}}
| residence      = 
| birth_date     = {{Birth date and age|1947|10|31|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Munich]], [[Allied-occupied Germany]]
| death_date     = 
| death_place    = 
| height         = 5 ft 10 in
| weight         = 134 lb
| country        = 
| sport          = [[Long-distance running]]
| event          = [[Marathon]], [[10,000 meters]]
| collegeteam    = [[Yale Bulldogs|Yale]]
| club           = Florida Track Club
| team           = 
| turnedpro      = 
| coach          = 
| retired        = 
| pb             = '''[[3000 meters]]''': 7:51.4<ref name="All-Athletics">{{cite web|url=http://www.all-athletics.com/node/290019|author=All-Athletics|title=Profile of Frank Shorter}}</ref> <br> '''[[5000 meters]]''': 13:26.62<ref name="All-Athletics"/> <br> '''[[10,000 meters]]''': 27:45.91<ref name="All-Athletics"/> <br> '''[[Marathon]]''': 2:10:30<ref name="All-Athletics"/>
| coaching       = 
| worlds         = 
| regionals      = 
| nationals      = 
| olympics       = 
| highestranking = 
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's [[Athletics (sport)|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]] | [[Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's Marathon|Marathon]]}}
{{MedalSilver | [[Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montréal]] | [[Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics - Men's Marathon|Marathon]]}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[Athletics at the 1971 Pan American Games|1971 Cali]] | Marathon}} 
{{MedalGold | [[Athletics at the 1971 Pan American Games|1971 Cali]] | 10,000 m}} 
{{MedalBronze | [[Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games|1979 San Juan]] | 10,000 m}} 
}}

'''Frank Charles Shorter''' (born October 31, 1947) is an American former [[long-distance runner]] who won the gold medal in the [[marathon]] at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] and the silver medal at the [[1976 Summer Olympics]].  His Olympic success, along with the achievements of other American runners, is credited with igniting the [[running boom]] in the United States during the 1970s.<ref>[http://republicanherald.com/sports/u-s-in-another-running-boom-1.469153 Republican Herald]. Republican Herald. Retrieved on July 5, 2016.</ref><ref>[http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/2008/10/marathon-men-th.html Chicago Tribune October 10, 2008 by Phil Hersh. Newsblogs.chicagotribune.com (October 10, 2008). Retrieved on 2016-07-05.]</ref><ref>[http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=153 Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918170456/http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=153 |date=September 18, 2018 }}. USATF (October 31, 1947). Retrieved on 2016-07-05.</ref><ref>Pat Borzi (May 11, 2012) [https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2012/05/%E2%80%98marathon-man%E2%80%99-frank-shorter-reflects-running-boom-he-helped-create 'Marathon man' Frank Shorter reflects on the running boom he helped create] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815101613/https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2012/05/%E2%80%98marathon-man%E2%80%99-frank-shorter-reflects-running-boom-he-helped-create |date=August 15, 2016 }}.minnpost.com</ref><ref>[http://www.personal.psu.edu/njg140/Running%20Boom%20with%20pics.html The 1970s Running Boom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194348/http://www.personal.psu.edu/njg140/Running%20Boom%20with%20pics.html |date=March 4, 2016 }}. psu.edu</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Frank Shorter was born in [[Munich]], [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]], where his father, physician Samuel S. Shorter, served in the [[U.S. Army]].  He grew up in [[Middletown, Orange County, New York|Middletown, New York]], where a street was named in his honor (Frank Shorter Way). Frank Shorter Way was formerly part of the Orange Classic 10K course route, which Shorter won in its inaugural race in 1981.<ref>[http://www.recordonline.com/article/20020609/SPORTS/306099980 Shorter gives thumbs-up to Classic alterations]</ref>  After earning his [[high school]] diploma from the [[Northfield Mount Hermon School|Mount Hermon School]] in [[Gill, Massachusetts]], in 1965, Shorter graduated from [[Yale University]] in New Haven, Connecticut, with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree (B.A.) in 1969, and the [[University of Florida College of Law]] in Gainesville, Florida, with a [[Juris Doctor]] degree (J.D.) in 1974.<ref name=usatfhofshorter/>

In the October 2011 issue of ''[[Runner's World]],'' an article by John Brant detailed the traumatic household life Frank and his siblings suffered at the hands of his extremely abusive father and the buckle end of his belt. With the publication of the ''Runner's World'' article, Shorter began to elaborate on stopping similar cycles of violence in more detail and in public.<ref>John Brant (October 2011). [https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a21753998/frank-shorters-story/ Frank's Story]. ''[[Runner's World]].'' Retrieved on September 19, 2019.</ref>

== Running career ==
Shorter first achieved distinction by winning the 1969 [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) six mile run title during his senior year at Yale.  He won his first U.S. national titles in 1970 in the three mile and six mile events.  He also was the U.S. national six mile/10,000 meter champion in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1977.

After graduating from Yale, Shorter chose to pursue a Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of New Mexico. However, he dropped out after six weeks after classes began to impact his training regime. Soon, he moved to Florida to study for a Juris Doctor degree at the [[University of Florida]] in Gainesville because of the excellence of the environment and the opportunity to train with [[Jack Bacheler]] as members of the Florida Track Club (FTC), founded by [[Jimmy Carnes]], then the head coach of the [[Florida Gators track and field]] team.<ref>Gary Cohen (August 4, 2009) "[http://www.runnerspace.com/news.php?do=view&news_id=6362 Interview with John L. Parker]," RunnersPace.com.  Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref> Bacheler was regarded as America's best distance runner, having qualified for the finals of the 5,000-meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.<ref>Roy Blount Jr., "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121025165149/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082518/index.htm Tallest, Fastest, Buggiest]," ''Sports Illustrated'' (June 16, 1969).  Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref>  The FTC's core nucleus of Shorter, Bacheler and [[Jeff Galloway]] qualified for the 1972 Olympics and their success made Gainesville the Mecca of distance running on the East Coast in the early 1970s.<ref>Dave Millman (December 8, 2008) "[http://www.gainesville.com/article/20081208/OPINION03/812070971/-1/archive?Title=Dave_Milliman__Running_to_Gainesville Dave Millman: Running to Gainesville]," ''The Gainesville Sun''.  Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref>

Shorter won the U.S. national cross-country championships four times (1970–1973).  He was the [[United States Olympic Trials (track and field)|U.S. Olympic Trials]] champion in both the 10,000-meter run and the marathon in both 1972 and 1976.  He also won both the 10,000-meter run and the marathon at the 1971 [[Pan American Games]]. Shorter was a four-time winner of the [[Fukuoka Marathon]] (1971–1974), generally recognized as the most prestigious marathon in the world at that time and held on a very fast course. His career best of 2:10:30 was set at that race on December 3, 1972. Several months later, on March 18, 1973, Shorter won the elite [[Lake Biwa Marathon]] in 2:12:03. He won the prestigious 7-mile [[Falmouth Road Race]] on [[Cape Cod]] in 1975 and 1976 and Atlanta's 10-kilometer [[Peachtree Road Race]] in 1977.

Shorter achieved his greatest recognition in the [[marathon]], and he is the only American athlete to win two medals in the Olympic marathon.<ref name=sr>Sports Reference, Olympic Sports, [https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/frank-shorter-1.html Frank Shorter] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214180849/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/frank-shorter-1.html |date=December 14, 2013 }}.  Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref> At the [[1972 Summer Olympics|Munich Games]]—which coincidentally is Shorter's place of birth— he finished fifth in the 10,000-meter final, breaking the American record for the event that he had established in his qualifying heat.<ref name=usatfhofshorter>USA Track & Field, Hall of Fame, [http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=153 Frank Shorter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918170456/http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=153 |date=September 18, 2018 }}. Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref> A few days later, he won the gold medal in the marathon. This ultimate achievement was marred by an imposter, [[West Germany|West German]] student Norbert Sudhaus,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130730034402/http://www.colorsport.co.uk/comment/sports-views/Frank-Shorter "Olympic Memories: Munich's Marathon Imposter, Frank Shorter, and the 'Running Boom' of the 1970s"]. Colorsport, (May 3, 2012)</ref> who ran into [[Olympic Stadium (Munich)|Olympic Stadium]] ahead of Shorter. Shorter was not bothered by the silence from the crowd who had been duped into thinking that he was running for the silver medal. Shorter was confident that he was going to win the gold medal because he knew that no competing runner had passed him.<ref>[http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/15/recalling-horror-1972/ Kantowski, Ron. "Recalling the horror of 1972," "Las Vegas Sun", Monday, June 15, 2009]. Lasvegassun.com. Retrieved on July 5, 2016.</ref> He received the [[James E. Sullivan Award]] afterwards as the top amateur athlete in the United States.<ref name=usatfhofshorter/>  At the [[1976 Summer Olympics]] in [[Montreal, Canada|Montreal]], Shorter dropped out of the 10,000 meters in order to concentrate exclusively on the marathon, winning the silver medal in the marathon<ref name=usatfhofshorter/> and finishing behind previously unheralded [[Waldemar Cierpinski]] of [[East Germany]].<ref>Sports Reference, Olympic Sports, [https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ci/waldemar-cierpinski-1.html Waldemar Cierpinski] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131054110/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ci/waldemar-cierpinski-1.html |date=January 31, 2012 }}.  Retrieved March 5, 2010.  Cierpinski repeated as the gold medalist at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, one of only two athletes to win the Olympic Marathon twice.</ref> Cierpinski was later implicated as a part of the state-sponsored doping program by East German track and field research files uncovered by [[Werner Franke]] at the [[Stasi]] headquarters in [[Leipzig]] in the late 1990s. There were suspicions about other East German athletes during the Montreal Olympics, including the East German women's swimming team led by [[Kornelia Ender]]; the East German women won eleven of the thirteen events.<ref>{{cite web|author=Gare Joyce Special to Page 2 (Archive) |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=joyce/080822 |title=Joyce: Marathon fraud – ESPN Page 2 |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=August 25, 2008 }}</ref>

From 2000 to 2003, Shorter was the chairman of the [[United States Anti-Doping Agency]], a body that he helped to establish.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Calderwood |first1=Bethany |title=Frank Shorter Biography, Facts, & Career |url=https://study.com/learn/lesson/frank-shorter-biography-facts-career.html |website=study.com |access-date=September 16, 2023}}</ref>

Shorter was featured as a prominent character, played by [[Jeremy Sisto]], in the 1998 film ''[[Without Limits]].''  The film follows the life of Shorter's contemporary, training partner, Olympic teammate and sometime rival, [[Steve Prefontaine]].<ref name="epstein8052008">David Epstein, "[https://www.si.com/olympics/2008/08/05/shorter-cuw Catching Up with Frank Shorter]," ''Sports Illustrated'' (August 5, 2008).  Retrieved March 5, 2010.</ref>  Shorter was the next to last person to see Prefontaine alive before he died in an automobile accident.

Shorter was inducted into the [[United States Olympic Hall of Fame]] in 1984, the USA [[National Track and Field Hall of Fame]] in 1989,<ref name=usatfhofshorter/> and the [[National Distance Running Hall of Fame]] in 1998.

Previously a long-time resident of [[Boulder, Colorado]], Shorter co-founded the [[Bolder Boulder]] in 1979. The annual 10k race is a popular Memorial Day event, which culminates with a tribute to U.S. Armed Forces at Folsom Field at the University of Colorado. A life-size bronze statue of Shorter stands outside the stadium.

In 2021, Shorter and his wife, Michelle Cox, moved to [[Falmouth, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-12 |title=Frank Shorter Will Run His First Road Race As A Falmouth Resident |url=https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/frank-shorter-will-run-his-first-road-race-as-a-falmouth-resident/article_eb069260-5ffd-5ae5-a1cb-044b863e4688.html |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=CapeNews.net |language=en}}</ref>

==Track & field news rankings==
[[File:10k at 1972 Olympics Umm al-Quwain stamp.jpg|thumb|Shorter (left) running 10,000 m at the 1972 Olympics, stamp of [[Umm al-Quwain]]]]

=== World rankings ===
;Marathon
* 1971 – 1st
* 1972 – 1st
* 1973 – 1st
* 1974 – 2nd
* 1976 – 2nd

;10,000 m
* 1970 – 2nd
* 1972 – 5th
* 1974 – 5th
* 1975 – 2nd

;5000 m
* 1975 – 10th

===U.S. rankings===
;Marathon
* 1971 – 1st
* 1972 – 1st
* 1973 – 1st
* 1974 – 1st
* 1976 – 1st

;10,000 m
* 1969 – 3rd
* 1970 – 1st
* 1971 – 1st
* 1972 – 1st
* 1973 – 5th
* 1974 – 1st
* 1975 – 1st
* 1976 – 2nd
* 1977 – 1st
* 1979 – 3rd
;5000 m
* 1969 – 6th
* 1970 – 2nd
* 1971 – 4th
* 1972 – 10th
* 1973 – 7th
* 1974 – 4th
* 1975 – 3rd
* 1976 – 5th
* 1977 – 7th

== Personal records ==
* 2 miles - 8:26.2 (1971)
* 3 miles – 12:52.0 (1974)
* 5000 meters – 13:26.60 (1977)
* 10,000 meters – 27:45.91 (1975)
* Marathon (42.195&nbsp;km) – 2:10:30 (1972)

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Olympics}}
*[[List of Levin College of Law graduates]]
*[[List of University of Florida alumni]]
*[[List of University of Florida Olympians]]
*[[List of Yale University people]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Frank Shorter}}
* {{Official website|http://frankshorter.net/}}
* {{sports links}}
* {{Team USA Hall of Fame|new_id=frank-shorter}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions Marathon Men}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions 10.000m Men}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions Marathon Men}}
{{Footer US NC 5000m Men}}
{{Footer US NC 10000m Men}}
{{Footer US NC Indoor 3000 meters Men}}
{{Footer US NC 15K run Men}}
{{Footer US NC 25K run Men}}
{{Footer US NC Cross Country Men}}
{{Japan Championships in Athletics men's marathon champions}}
{{Footer Fukuoka Marathon Champions Men}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1972 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1976 Summer Olympics}}
{{Sullivan Award winners}}
{{1998 National Distance Running Hall of Fame inductees}}
{{Footer WBYP Marathon Men}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shorter, Frank}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Athletes from Munich]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Middletown, Orange County, New York]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American men marathon runners]]
[[Category:American sports commentators]]
[[Category:American masters athletes]]
[[Category:Olympic men marathon runners]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:Japan Championships in Athletics winners]]
[[Category:James E. Sullivan Award recipients]]
[[Category:Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Yale Bulldogs men's track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]